68A: When repeated, start of an old shout that ends with the starts of 17-, 26-, 47- and 61-Across (EXTRA).

First of all I want to say: SMERSH. I just really felt like that needed to be said right up front this morning. SMERSH. Maybe several times. SMERSH SMERSH SMERSH. I've never read any James Bond novels and I've never been a big fan of the movies either, so SMERSH was a complete mystery to me. Got it entirely through crosses, at which point I marveled "Where have you been all my life?" I mean, I don't care who ya are, that's one awesome word right there. SMERSH. Welcome to my vocabulary, SMERSH.

For some reason, the LA Times archive on cruciverb.com hasn't been updated yet, so I had to solve on the applet this morning, which is no fun. I will say this for the LA Times's applet: it seems to be more user-friendly than the applet on the NY Times's site. Of course, that's not saying much. I can't figure out why there isn't a decent applet out there yet. What year is it again? Let's just talk about the puzzle before I get myself all worked up.

Fun theme today. Using the applet distracted me, so I wasn't able to pay attention to it as I was solving, which is kind of a bummer. I also found myself a little distracted by SMERSH (in case you hadn't noticed) but that's not the theme's fault. I especially like the entry ABOUT THE AUTHOR — a phrase that looks like a partial, but that you've actually seen a million times if you read at all. And any reference to ALL IN THE FAMILY is always good. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this to you before, but when I used to watch the show, I was a kid in Fargo, North Dakota, which means I basically had no idea what they were talking about half the time. When I got a little older and saw a little more of the world it all came together for me and I was like "Ohhhh yeeeah … that's funny."

Bullets:

22A: Fine distinction (NICETY). I tried "nuance" first.

23A: Tavern tussle (MELEE). I tried "brawl" first. (I don't usually have this much trouble on a Monday!)

25A: Delaware senator who sponsored IRA legislation (ROTH). Did you remember he was from Delaware? Me neither.

Nothing to dislike about this easy, fun puzzle. OK theme (but a great reveal), some interesting fill, not a whole lot of crosswordese.

SMERSH made the puzzle for me! It was a gimme, after a second or three to dredge it up; I read a lot of the Bond books in my teens. But I only discovered just now that it was based on a real organization. СМЕРШ was Soviet army counter-intelligence. It's an acronym for "Death to Spies". It was SMERSH who were tasked with finding Hitler, and who did indeed find and identify his and Eva Braun's bodies in Berlin at the end of the war. Who knew?

Cool to have USSR in there along with it. I didn't even see that during the solve, lurking down there in the SE -- got it all from crosses. It should have been in the NE, up where SSGT is :-)

"THAT'LL Be the Day" was another gimme. So, @JNH, what's wrong with having a Buddy Holly song stuck in your head? :-) Wow, I finally made the connection to "... singin' 'this'll be the day that I die'" in "American Pie". Only took me 38 years. D'oh!

I had BRAWL for MELEE too. And ROCOCO for FLORID. I don't think of FLORID as ornate; I think of it as red-faced.

Not as thrilled as others. I never am with this type of theme (where a phrase is spelled out by first words, esp. ones where the possibilities for theme answers seem massive). Reveal would have been better as full EXTRAEXTRA. READ ONE'S FORTUNE, while accurate enough, isn't nearly as snappy as the others. Fill is just fine.

PG, I was all "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy" which I listened to in the 1940s. Didn't fit. Then Lance Armstrong? Neil? Louis? Ice tea, Iced tea. Arnold Palmer. I like them all.Wanted KOALA before PANDA. Many of you would enjoy the book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" (why commas really do make a difference). Fascinating & humorous.

I would love to know why words like RATSO and SATCHMO appear twice in the same month. With all the words in all the languages to choose from?

@Mokus - the crossword makers really do all live together, centrally located in IA. On the top floor of the Cedar Rapids Museum. Koalas and PANDAs have being roly-poly cute in common. Otherwise, PANDAs are placential and Koalas are marsupials. They both limit their diets to one leaf, basically. PANDAs like bamboo and Koalas like eucalyptus.

Better than the average Monday. Had some of the same problems that others did such as brawl for MELEE and thinking Neil Armstrong instead of SATCHMO. Had spin before SLUE and it took me a while to think of ALER so that corner was a mess for a while. Thanks for the Jerry Jeff Walker.

NE hung me up with SLUE instead of Spin and the tasty KAL Kan, which I had only heard of somewhere in the dim past. My Lab has been on Eukanuba (why don't we see that vowel loaded brand instead of the more pedestian IAMS more often in CrossWorld?) Lamb and Rice since she was a pup.

Wow, if the difficulty level actually goes up every day this week I'm not even going to try Saturday's puzzle. This was a Tuesday at least.

I'd never heard of SLUE but apparently it's Crosswordese. From the online definitions I've found it's clued incorrectly...something swerving or veering is different from turning on its axis. I know, in order for something to veer it has to turn, but it just seemed like this was clued to mislead you into thinking SPIN.

I loved Ian Fleming when I was a kid and read all the Bond books, but even as a 12-year old I remember thinking S.M.E.R.S.H. was kind of a dumb acronym.

@Sfingi: thank you for the clarification on pandas & koalas. Good to know, teach!@Kent: only been doing CWPs since early last year so can't say what has been overlooked in the past. I can't imagine why I would want to complain even if I did.

Clever puzzle to me. Had spin before slue like many others.@jnh I too love organs. Have you seen this clip on YouTube?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU Sorry I don't know how to link it so please copy and paste you won't be disppointed. It's the organ at the old Wanamakers in Philly complete with a Random Act of Culture. Enjoy!

@NJ Irish OMG! That was AWESome. When I was a child, every Christmas, my mom and I would take the train into Philly and meet my dad who had an office in the PSFS building. We would go to Wanamaker's to see the tree and lights and have lunch in the Crystal Tea Room. Then I would get to visit with Santa. I forgot about that huge bronze eagle in the main lobby. Thanks for the great memory and the random Handel.

@JW: Not Fleming's fault. I guess SMERSH sounds more in-the-language in Russian -- go figure! The full name is "СМЕРть Шпионам", which is "SMERt' SHpionam". You can see "spy" in there, and even "death" if you squint hard enough :-) In English though, yeah, it's a pretty odd word. Now, Monty Python would say it's a perfect name, because they smersh their enemies to tiny bits -- except for good old 007, of course.

@NJ Irish: Very cool! What first struck me was that they were all just standing around in street clothes, not dolled up like choirs usually are. Of course, to pull off a flashmob you have to blend in, but still, I got a kick out of it.

NJ IrishThank you for that gloriously awesome vid clip. I said in my earlier comment that that Buddy Holly clip made my day. Well this totally tops everything I've seen in quite a while. I remember years ago going to Wanamaker's to see and hear the world's largest pipe organ... of course I was awe-struck by its collosal sound and I always remember that when it started to play, all the shoppers just stopped and plopped down on the floor for a wonderful impromptu concert. What a great memory. But then you add all those glorious voices of the Opera Chorus and its pure heaven. I'm a member of three different pipe organ societies in the Chicago area, so hearing this was a very special treat for me. Thank you so much1 Now I'm going to forward the link to all my theatre organ buddies.

I would just like to say how much I appreciate all you commenters. I learn so much and get a chuckle from some of the funny things that are said here. I certainly enjoy Puzzlegirl's writeup, but you all are like frosting on the cake.Thank you all for being here!

And as for you newbies... just chime in here. You can't say anything dumb because we've all done plenty of that already.

For those of you who have said "how do you post a comment with an embedded link." Here's how:Read Puzzlegirl's second Q&A in her FAQ section. To get there just click on the word FAQ in the black bar at the top of the blog.Also take note of the CW101 right next to it.LOTS OF VERY USEFUL STUFF!!!